Pakistan government urged to shift Shakil Afridi from Peshawar

Islamabad, June 2 (IANS) The chief minister of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has urged the federal government to shift jailed Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi to any other place in the country citing threat to the physician’s life from terrorists, Online news agency reported.

Afridi has been sentenced to 33 years in jail after helping the US spy agency CIA find former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He was charged with treason for helping the US.

Talking to a private TV channel Chief Minister Amir Hyder Khan said that Afridi’s life is in danger as terrorist are imprisoned in the central jail of Peshawar.

“It would be a wise decision to shift Dr Afridi from Peshawar,” he said, adding that security arrangements around the jail have been beefed up.

Afridi was found guilty under the Frontier Crimes Regulation for carrying out a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad to get the DNA samples of bin Laden. He was also fined Rs.320,000 (over $3,400).

US commandos stormed bin Laden’s hideout at Abbottabad near Rawalpindi May 2 last year, taking the US-Pakistan ties to a new low. The doctor was arrested 20 days later while trying to escape to Afghanistan.